


A Place for Us

by LyriaBlackFrost



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Emotionally Constipated Hordak, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24291511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyriaBlackFrost/pseuds/LyriaBlackFrost
Summary: Hordak knows he isn’t welcome in Etheria after everything he did wrong for so many years. While most people seem cautious about him, however, Entrapta makes sure to remind him that, despite everything, he still has a place in that world.
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 342





	A Place for Us

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I had to stop all my current projects to write about the weirdest (canon!) ship of emotionally constipated oldies that I have. They're too precious in their own, very awkward way... I just couldn't resist.
> 
> And I also love Wrong Hordak... He's such a good boy. :')
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

No one had been direct about it yet, but still, Hordak could feel the resentful gazes upon him. During his reign as the leader of the Horde, he didn’t think about anything but being useful to Horde Prime, and accepted again as his brother, instead of being seen as nothing but a failure. So, he fought and killed without a second thought, doing whatever he could to succeed, using fear to control even his allies.

But now, all of his choices weighed on him. He, who once believed he needed nothing but Horde Prime’s acceptance and affection, found both of those things on someone else, who showed him kindness like his “brother” would never do. Entrapta was the one who, without realizing it, showed him there was more he could have… More than that lonely reign of terror, and more than that need to please someone who would never see him for who he truly was.

Yet… Entrapta was a Princess of Power. She had her place in that world, and friends who cared about her. If anything, his presence would do nothing but bring discord, and cause her pain. It was true that he wanted nothing but stay with her, watch as she came up with those brilliant inventions, hear her excited laugh as she made a discovery, and maybe even help her create new things that defied the limits of science itself. However, every single glance filled with hatred that he received made him question if it was worth the price. Maybe he would be better alone… Finding an isolated place in Etheria for himself, where no one would see him. Then, if possible, gather the materials and build a spaceship, and leave that place for good, without a notice.

Hordak sat on the ground, suddenly feeling exhausted. He closed his eyes, trying to come up with a good plan, but as much as he tried to concentrate, Entrapta’s smile, and the feeling of her tight hug insisted on taking his mind, bringing all of those strange, contained emotions back to the surface.

“There you are, brother!”

Hordak raised his head, seeing another clone of Horde Prime. Before he could answer, the clone opened a wide smile, surprising him.

“You are Hordak, aren’t you?” he asked. “Entrapta told me so many stories about you! I was waiting for the moment we would have a chance to talk to each other. I am your brother, Wrong Hordak!”

Hordak furrowed his brow.

“Wrong Hordak…?” he repeated.

“That’s the name she gave me when we met,” he explained. “While she was searching for you.”

Those words made something shift inside Hordak.

“She was searching for me?” he murmured.

He wasn’t expecting an answer, but Wrong Hordak raised his fist in a victorious pose.

“Everywhere, brother!” he answered. “And I am so glad to finally talk to you… I shouldn’t be saying this, but you are already my favorite brother!”

Wrong Hordak winked at him, and, once again, Hordak was left confused by those actions.

“Why are you doing that?” he asked.

“Doing what, brother?”

“Winking.”

The smile on Wrong Hordak’s face widened even more.

“Oh, Entrapta helped me learn how to express my feelings!” he answered. “Didn’t she do the same to you, brother?”

Hordak lowered his eyes. Even at that moment, it was still difficult for him to express--and even understand--his own feelings. Wrong Hordak did it so easily… Smiling and winking like he was born in Etheria. He imagined Entrapta teaching him those small things, and a warm feeling took his chest. It sounded so much like her… Doing those things for others without realizing how much meaning they carried.

“Oh, you just smiled, brother!”

Those words made Hordak widen his eyes at him.

“Did I?” he asked.

Wrong Hordak nodded, bouncing at the same place with the excitement.

“Now, try to wink!” he said. “It’s so fun to do it!”

He winked again, as if waiting for Hordak to mimic him. Hordak shook his head.

“Maybe another time…” he hesitated. “Brother.”

“That’s alright,” answered Wrong Hordak. “We can try it after you rest a little. Until then, I will see if Glimmer needs any help with the Kitchen.” He made a pause, offering him another smile. “I hope to talk to you again later, brother Hordak!”

Hordak watched as he walked away, and as soon as he was alone again, that heavy feeling came back to his chest. Even a clone like Wrong Hordak had found his place among those people, but he was… innocent. All those clones were. They only did as they were commanded without a second thought--or a choice. But Hordak was defective… The things he did had been his own choice, and that was enough to make him different from all of them. _Worse._

“Hordak!”

That familiar voice made something twist inside his chest. Entrapta approached him, using her hair as a way to move faster. Something about that always amused him, and seeing it again was…

He couldn’t describe it, but he was glad he could see it again.

“Hordak!” she repeated, stopping in front of him. “I finally found you. Wrong Hordak told me you were here. I was looking for you!”

She approached him, stopping just a few inches away, looking at his face.

“You don’t look very well,” she observed, furrowing her brow. “Is something wrong? Maybe a malfunction somewhere…”

She touched his face, chest, and arms, trying to find something wrong anywhere. Hordak instinctively moved away, unable to look at her face.

“No, it’s not a malfunction,” he said.

Entrapta simply watched him for a while.

“Oh…!” she said. “That means you need to talk, right? Bow told me sometimes people need to talk about their problems to feel better. It’s like maintenance, but for organic beings!”

She sat beside him, giving him a gentle tap on the back with her hair.

“Go ahead,” she said. “Talk to me.”

How should he even touch that subject?

“I…” he hesitated. “I was thinking that maybe I should go.”

“Go where?” asked Entrapta. “Do you want me to take you there? I have a place I need to go too, so we could make a stop there on our--”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Hordak sighed. Saying it was much more difficult than he expected.

“I should find a way to leave Etheria,” he said. “Forever.”

The cheerful expression slowly faded from Entrapta’s face.

“Why?” she asked.

“I’m not wanted here,” explained Hordak. “People resent me for what I did… My presence will be nothing but a reminder of everything they lost to the Horde.”

“Wait a minute… Let me try to understand.”

She spent some time in silence, with her brow furrowed.

“So you don’t want people to feel bad because you’re here, right?” she asked.

“That’s… part of it,” admitted Hordak.

“What is the other part?”

“Their hatred…” he stopped for a moment, gritting his teeth. “I don’t know why, but it pains me.”

“It didn’t before?”

“No.”

To his surprise, soon Entrapta was smiling again.

“That’s a good sign, then!” she said. “Shows that you’re totally free of Horde Prime’s control! Everything that was left of him inside you is gone! Now you’re just Hordak, just like Wrong Hordak is just Wrong Hordak! And all the other not-Hordaks are just not-Hordaks!” She made a pause, a lock of hair scratching her chin as she thought. “We’ll have to think of names for all of them, or this will get confusing…”

Hordak could understand her logic, but couldn’t agree with it. He shook his head.

“I was free to make my own choices, and I still chose to lead the Horde,” he said in a low voice. “It is true that I wanted nothing but his acceptance, but I could have made things different if I wanted to. I just…” He struggled to find a way to explain. “I never even considered it as an option before I…”

He stopped talking once again. A long sigh left his mouth, and he lowered his gaze to his own hands, making an effort to let those next words out.

“Before I met you.”

Entrapta’s excited smile from moments before softened into a smaller, but still sincere one.

“See?” she said in a lower voice, moving closer to Hordak. “That’s because there was part of him still in you. But now he’s gone, and you can make the choices you want to.” She made a pause. “Like helping me choose a cool new name for Wrong Hordak… And all the other Hordaks.” She groaned to herself. “That’s a lot of names to think… I’m not good at this.”

Hordak observed her, his chest taken by many conflicting feelings that he couldn’t name.

“Entrapta…” he murmured. “I don’t think I should stay.”

“Nonsense!” she protested. “You can help me in my laboratory. We’ll discover so many new things together!”

He shook his head.

“It would be for the best.”

“But…”

Entrapta opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything else. She lowered her head, and Hordak had the feeling she, too, struggled with the words. When she finally spoke, her voice was almost as low as a whisper.

“I don’t want you to go.”

Her tone was painful to him. He tried to find a better, logical, way to explain his reasons, so she would understand him without being sad; but, no matter how much effort he made, he couldn’t find a solution. Maybe there was no way he could do it without making her sad.

“Is it because I’m not a good friend?” asked Entrapta after a while. “I know I’m not good at it… I don’t understand people like I understand machines. My own friends were angry at me for helping you, and I didn’t even realize it until they said it. I just did what I thought was best for science, but I didn’t understand that what’s good for science isn’t always good for people.”

She raised her head, looking at him.

“I’m still learning, but I’ll try to be better,” she said. “So, please… Don’t go away.”

Her words caught him by surprise.

“I never thought you were a bad friend,” he said.

“Why are you leaving me, then?”

“I don’t want to leave you,” he admitted. “I just feel like it would be for the best.”

“The best for who?”

He opened his mouth, then shook his head, taking a deep breath before answering.

“For everyone.”

“Not everyone!” protested Entrapta. “It’s not the best for _me_!”

She reached for his face with her hair, cupping it, making him look at her.

“I told you my friends were angry at me before…” she said. “But they forgave me when they saw I wanted to help. The same could happen to you, if they understand how you feel.”

Hordak looked to the side.

“It’s different,” he muttered.

“But if you try to make things better, they will have to understand that you changed!” she insisted. “It’s data, and data doesn’t lie!”

Her confident words made Hordak look into her eyes again. There was no sign of doubt there… He knew Entrapta wasn’t the kind to lie--unlike many, she always meant every single word that she said. Again, a warm feeling took his chest, and he didn’t know what to do with it.

“I wish more people thought the same way as you,” the words came out before he could stop them.

“Me too.”

Entrapta let go of his face, placing those locks of hair under her chin, to support her head. She stared at the ground for a moment, in silence.

“It’s hard to try to think like everyone else…” she said after a while. “So many things to take into consideration, so many words that could hurt them even if you don’t intend to. Sometimes you do something without thinking, and suddenly everything is a mess, and you don’t even know how to begin to fix it.” She stopped talking for a moment. “It’s much easier to just surround myself with machines, instead. Machines are logical… I can’t hurt them, even if I say something I shouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to stay away from people, then?” asked Hordak.

“Maybe…” she considered it for a moment. “But now that I’ve made friends, it’s hard to stay away from them. Even thinking about it makes me feel lonely… So, I’m making an effort to be a good friend to them. It’s not easy, but I think I’m getting better at it.”

Her words bothered Hordak a little.

“But why should you make so much effort for other people?” he asked. “Why should you be the only one trying so hard to be accepted?”

“That’s not true,” answered Entrapta. “I’m not the only one trying to make this work. It’s an effort from both parts, you know? I try to understand them, and they try to understand me. It’s much more difficult than programming a machine, but… it works!” She offered him a wide smile. “And, even if it gets tiring sometimes, it’s worth the effort.”

Hordak didn’t answer, thinking about her words. To his surprise, Entrapta placed her hand over his.

“But you always understood me,” she added in a low tone. “Even when other people didn’t.”

Her words made him feel slightly restless, but not in an unpleasant way.

“I… feel the same way,” he murmured in response.

Entrapta raised her head, looking into his eyes.

“Hordak…” she said. “Stay with me.”

“I can’t…”

“You can,” she insisted. “If you want to stay away from people, then we can find a place far from here.” She thought for a moment, then gestured widely with her hands and hair. “Like a new lab. We can make one! Even bigger than the one I have! It should take some time, and I’ll need some materials…” she furrowed her brow. “A lot of materials… But we’ll find a way to do it!”

She lightly squeezed his hand.

“And,” she proceeded in a lower voice, “if you change your mind someday, we can come back here. So you can try again.”

“Try again…?” repeated Hordak.

Entrapta nodded.

“I know it won’t be easy…” she said. “But I’ll be here to help you, alright? No matter how long it takes, I’ll help you prove to people that you’re good. That you deserve to be here, like everyone else.”

“Would you do all this for someone like me?”

“Even more.” She smiled at him. “You’re my friend, Hordak… My best friend.”

Saying that, she leaned in his direction, lowering her voice to a whisper.

“Just don’t tell Scorpia and Emily… they’ll be sad if they hear that.”

“I won’t.” guaranteed Hordak.

He considered it for a while, under Entrapta’s slightly anxious gaze.

“If you’re sure about that, then… I’ll stay,” he said.

The answer made her widen her eyes.

“Really?”

“Yes,” he answered. “But you don’t need to make a new lab… I’ll face the consequences of what I did, and… find a way to compensate for all the pain I caused.” He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do it, or if they’ll ever be able to forgive me, but I’ll try, at least.”

He looked at Entrapta, watching as a bright, sweet smile took her lips.

“And I’ll help you,” she answered. “With everything you need.”

It took Hordak a moment to realize he was smiling once again--maybe it was an effect from being so close to Entrapta. Before he could think of something to say to her, she suddenly let out a loud yell, jumping on her feet--hair--once again.

“That’s right!” she said, looking at him. “That’s why I came to search for you… There’s a place I need to go!”

“Where?” asked Hordak.

“The Beast Island!” she gestured in an urgent manner. “I need to help my friend who is trapped there! She’s the bravest robot that ever existed, and she must be so lonely right now!”

She offered her hand to him.

“Are you coming with me?” she asked.

Without hesitation, Hordak held her hand.

“Of course.”

“I knew I could count on you!” answered Entrapta. “Let’s go! She’s waiting for us!”

“Wait, Entrapta…”

She looked at him, and he needed a second to find the right words.

“Thank you.”

The smile that Entrapta showed him was different from the ones he had seen before. She reached for his other hand, holding both, using her hair to get to his height, looking into his eyes.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m just happy that we’re together again.”

Neither of them said anything else, but, somehow, that silence was more than enough. Her expression, the feeling of her hands on his… They carried much more meaning than words would ever be able to.

“Let’s go, then!” she said, pulling him by the hand, alongside her. “We have a friend to rescue!”

Hordak followed her, but part of his mind was still trying to make sense of all those feelings that Entrapta caused him. He wanted to be with her… To never be apart again. He wanted to hear her voice, and see her face… He wanted to listen to her ramblings about science, to learn new things about her projects and herself… He wanted to feel more of that warm touch on his hand, and her arms pulling him into a tight hug…

He wanted her to know about all this, but he couldn’t put it into words.

“I should talk to Wrong Hordak when we come back,” he said.

“Hm?” Entrapta looked at him over her shoulder, slightly curious. “Why?”

“I think I could learn a few things from him.

Maybe, someday, he would be good enough at expressing his feelings to let her know.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!


End file.
